<p>So I’ve been lucky enough to get into my two top choices for college, Scripps and Barnard.
I’m ecstatic about this but it means I have to make a really tough choice. I keep on weighing the pros and cons, yet I’m still stumped. I currently live in Los Angeles so Scripps would be not to far, but I’m attracted to Barnard’s amazing location in New York City. Barnard has the Columbia partnership, but Scripps has the Claremont consortium. I also need a lot of financial aid (still waiting on Barnard for their offer). I would really appreciate some opinions on what would be the better option.
FYI I’m not sure what I will major in, but I might go the pre-med route.</p>
<p>Both of our daughters were accepted to two (or more) women’s colleges. They made their decisions based on the accepted students visit. In other words the feel of the campuses.</p>
<p>Both are wonderful choices in wonderful places.</p>
<p>My D chose Barnard for its unique combination of nurturing women and exposing them to the wide world at the same time.</p>
<p>Columbia is a little different from the Claremont Consortium because it is a research university pairing with a liberal arts college, and not a collection of liberal arts colleges. </p>
<p>My D felt like she was at the center of the universe when heads of state spoke at Columbia and Hillary gave press conferences at Barnard.</p>
<p>Scripps is beautiful, and I would imagine its a bit more peaceful, spiritual? I’m not sure of the word. The campus feels like a garden. Barnard’s campus is lovely, Beaux Artes buildings for the most part, but it is urban.</p>
<p>Do you want to go far away and try something new or stay close and enjoy what the consortium has to offer? Assuming the financials are comparable, the choice is yours.</p>
<p>If you can’t visit, I would suggest you pick a department of interest and compare the offerings. That should give you a good idea of the pedagogical style of the two places.</p>
<p>You might want to wait until you have the Barnard financial aid award in hand. If there is a significant difference in awards, that might give you your answer. Keep in mind that Barnard would also entail additional costs of travel to/from the East coast, extra cost for winter clothing, and the general higher costs of living in NY. So factor those costs in when comparing the aid awards.</p>